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Post by Fan of Bronze on May 26, 2014 20:52:11 GMT -5
I am starting a reading project, and I'm going to do reviews here while I read through.
The project is Conan the Barbarian #s 241–275 (1991–93 by issue dates, though the first issue came out in 1990). These issues represent Roy Thomas's return after ten years in the wilderness to Conan, a character and a series upon which he had left an impressive mark between 1970 and 1980. For readers like me, this was one of the brighter spots in comics of the early 1990s, what with the industry's then-new emphasis on sales driven by artists's styles rather than by storytelling substance.
For those who don't know, one of the great things about Roy Thomas's Conan (whether in the 1970s, 1990s, or 2010s) is his attention to the details of the world constructed in the prose Conan stories of Robert E. Howard, and to the characters in those stories who were said to have been known by Conan at earlier times in his life. Thomas took all of these elements, and wove them compellingly into the fabric of a whole life that he permitted us to watch unfold in real time (at least during the 1970s; the ten years of publishing between 1970 and 1980 corresponded to ten years in the life of the character). Roy Thomas, more than perhaps any individual since the premature death of Howard, is responsible for seeing Conan's life as a whole, and in presenting that life in a compelling way to the public.
While I was delighted, in 1990–91, to see Thomas return to the character he had so vividly portrayed, my life was rather crowded at that time, and Conan ended up being something I experienced a couple of times a month (including Thomas's return to Savage Sword), for less than an hour at a time. I never did get the chance for the long, multi-issue reading sessions that I had had with the earlier series. I hope to correct that now.
Oh, and before someone points it out: Yes, I know that Thomas wrote CtB #240 under a pseudonym. I just read it, and there is a reason it wasn't published with Thomas's name on it. It's good work, but it is separate from the storyline in #s 241–75. It wraps up a storyline that had begun some eight issues earlier. One gets the sense that it merely clears the decks for the series to begin in #241. I won't be dealing with it here.
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Post by Fan of Bronze on May 26, 2014 21:05:25 GMT -5
Conan the Barbarian #241 (Marvel, Feb. 1991)
"The Sorcerer and the She-Devil" part 1 of 3 (cover title)
"All Roads Lead to Zamora," 22pp.
Roy Thomas: writer
Gary Hartle: penciler
Mike DeCarlo: inker
Clem Robins: letterer
Nel Yomtov: colorist
Mike Rockwitz: editor
Tom DeFalco: editor in chief
This was the first issue of Conan the Barbarian in ten years to list the name of Roy Thomas as writer; as might be expected, there are more than a few acknowledgments in the issue of the time passed, and memories stirred. Thomas wastes no time getting down to it; page one shows Conan on horseback entering Arenjun, Robert E. Howard's City of Thieves, while in the captions, Conan muses on the ten years since he first entered the city. Ten years since Thomas had last written Conan, ten years since Conan had first entered Arenjun; Thomas permits the latter to speak for the former in a way that welcomes back readers who had been skipping the book for those ten years, but in such a way that wouldn't be noticed by a reader unfamiliar with the writer's notable history with the character.
As Conan rides around the city, memories of his first visit are reinforced, for both Conan and the reader. The tower that fell as a result of his actions still lies in ruin; the district of the city at which he, as a young thief, was perfectly at home retains its former character. We get a nice one-page summation of CtB #4, complete with art that clearly references the Barry Smith–drawn issue published in 1971.
Conan walks into a bar, and why not? We want to see if Conan can still handle himself. And we find out: A lady approaches him with clear intent, the man from whom the lady's attentions were distracted takes exception, and swords are drawn. In the free-for-all that ensues, Conan gets the better of all his foes but one; that foe's dispatch by another serves to re-introduce wizard priest Karanthes, recognizable from his appearances in CtB, starting with #7 and last in #115 (the last issue of new material during Thomas's earlier run on the title). Thomas is doing everything he can to bring his old readers home (and I was certainly happy to see it).
Karanthes invites Conan to join him on a journey to Castle Zukala (we readers have been there before, and another flashback echoing an early CtB cover reinforces the point) where the priest is to officiate a wedding of the castle's master. Conan agrees.
After a few days, the party overtakes a party transporting a woman who, due to a broken wheel on her coach, sets out on foot. Conan, his rough nobility aroused, pushes his mount to catch her so that he can offer her a ride. As he catches up to her on a bridge, a troll emerges and demands tribute. Conan chooses instead to fight. As the woman's hood falls away, Conan recognizes another old friend: Red Sonja.
The fight goes poorly for Conan; if not for Sonja's assistance, he might not have defeated the troll. Sonja is less than grateful; not only could she have handled herself (she says), she ruined her dress helping Conan. Karanthes tops them both: Sonja, he tells Conan, is the bride-to-be of the wedding at castle Zukala. He invites Conan to give the bride away.
The story, though slight, accomplishes what it needs to: It lets readers know that Roy Thomas is back, and that the joys of his masterful handling of the Hyborian Age could be expected to return. In every way except a wow-inducing story (and be fair; this is only part 1 of 3), Thomas let it be known that he was back, in full form, and ready to carry on exactly as he had between 1970 and 1980. Settings: check!—We get Arenjun, City of Thieves, and Castle Zukala; we also get the promise of Conan proceeding to Khoraja, all informed by geography that works. Characters: check!—We get Red Sonja and Karanthes, both familiar to longtime readers. Storytelling style: check!—There are no thought balloons, and no sound effects from inanimate objects (not remarkable in 2014, but innovative in 1970, and still notable in 1990). We even get Thomas's idiosyncratic effect in which words spoken in agitation are lettered with uneven baselines.
The art was competent enough, though not quite up to the masterful levels of the title's earlier artists (Barry Smith, Gil Kane, John Buscema). The coloring was pre-digital, and unremarkable, even for that: In the bar scene, we got several panels in which only the focal characters were fully colored; everyone in background was colored as a monchromatic mass. The lettering did exactly what it need to do, with quiet competence.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 27, 2014 5:38:30 GMT -5
My favorite part about issue 240 is that it essentially retcons away the preceding "Conan year one" story arc without actually telling readers that they had been wasting their time. Making that dubious part of the series a bedtime story told by King Conan to his young son and having Conan's queen noticing that it wasn't exactly how he had told her the same stories the first time was as elegant as efficient.
Fan of Bronze, I can't tell you how delighted I was when Thomas came back to that title. For some of the following issues, Conan the barbarian was once again my favorite comic. I look forward to your reviews!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 27, 2014 5:44:27 GMT -5
Some effort was made to make Roy's return noteworthy: Marvel got Todd Mc farlane, Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio to draw the first three covers of this new run. To my everlasting chagrin, in the 90s, that would have attracted new readers more than the return of the mag's best writer. Bummer!
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Post by Fan of Bronze on May 27, 2014 20:03:15 GMT -5
My favorite part about issue 240 is that it essentially retcons away the preceding "Conan year one" story arc without actually telling readers that they had been wasting their time. Making that dubious part of the series a bedtime story told by King Conan to his young son and having Conan's queen noticing that it wasn't exactly how he had told her the same stories the first time was as elegant as efficient. Fan of Bronze, I can't tell you how delighted I was when Thomas came back to that title. For some of the following issues, Conan the barbarian was once again my favorite comic. I look forward to your reviews! I knew I wasn't the person to do justice to #240, even if Thomas did write it. Since I never read the issues leading up to 240, I was completely unaware of the subtle retcon you describe. Now that you say it, though, I can see that it was handled in classic Roy Thomas form, leaving the telling of the story in continuity, even if the events told were not. |
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Post by foxley on May 27, 2014 20:32:34 GMT -5
So Roy Thomas returned to using Red Sonja? I was not aware of this. I may need to hunt down these issues.
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Post by Fan of Bronze on May 27, 2014 21:38:25 GMT -5
Conan the Barbarian #242 (Marvel, March 1991)
"The Sorcerer and the She-Devil" part 2 of 3 (cover title)
"They Came to Castle Zukala," 22 pp.
Roy Thomas: writer
Gary Hartle: penciler
Mike DeCarlo: inker
Michael Heisler: letterer
Nel Yomtov: colorist
Mike Rockwitz: editor
Tom DeFalco: ed. in chief
Conan rides point for the combined parties of Karanthes and Sonja, only hours after his encounter (last issue) with the troll at the bridge. His suspicion of encountering further sorcery is realized as a pair of stone gargoyles on either side of the road become animate, intending to exact the tribute Conan failed to pay the troll at the bridge. Conflict ensues until Sonja makes her presence known; recognizing their new mistress, the gargoyles let the caravan pass.
Conan queries Karanthes briefly about a veiled prophet to the south, echoing a bit in 241 about Natohk, a veiled leader (I neglected to mention this in my review of that issue).
The party proceeds to Castle Zukala, looking worse for the years since CtB #5 (which editor Rockwitz was good enough to recall in a footnote). The company is welcomed by the castle's new master (and Sonja's fiancé), Lord El-Ron. Conan, aware of Sonja's vow to wed or bed only one who bests her in battle, is unimpressed with his host, who, it turns out, is the son of old wizard Zukala, whom Conan had killed in battle years earlier. Nevertheless, El-Ron disowns his father, and is completely gracious as he sets dinner for everyone.
At dinner, Conan continues to sulk, finally voicing his disbelief at Sonja's defeat in an insult against El-Ron. For Sonja, who has scarcely spoken to Conan since the troll bridge, this tears it. She leaves the table (during which time Conan makes apology to El-Ron), returning moments later in her classic iron bikini, and armed with her sword. She attacks Conan, who responds only defensively, which leads to Sonja getting the better of him. At Sonja's ultimatum, Conan leaves the castle, riding south to continue his own journey. By El-Ron's instruction, Conan is not molested by a southern guardian of the castle, which we see only in shadow (and not again for the rest of the issue).
A short distance away from the castle, Conan dismounts and returns to the castle on foot. Through a window, he sees a sorcerous ceremony unfold, conducted by El-Ron, with Sonja nearby, on her feet but apparently unaware of her surroundings. Finding Karanthes nearby, Conan learns that El-Ron isn't as detached from Zukala's legacy as he had professed; indeed, he intends to impregnate Sonja for the purpose of creating a new person that Zukala could inhabit, thereby returning to earthly life!
Conan has heard enough, and decides it's time to interfere. As he moves against El-Ron, the sorcerer calls forth the demon Jaggta-Noga (also from CtB #5) and sets the demon against Conan. The demon resists Conan's attack, in which Conan's sword shatters against the demon's flesh. Jaggta takes Conan back to his domain, promising tortures of the damned lasting eight thousand years. Sonja continues to show no sign of awareness, even as El-Ron reveals that she isn't expected to survive the birth of Zukala's reincarnation (end part 2).
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This issue's cover is signed by Jim Lee; curiously, the signature is in a box with plenty of space under Lee's name. Did Lee expect someone else to ink it? Did someone else ink it, and decline to sign it? Beats me. The image isn't necessarily Lee's best; it's a tight close-up of Conan fighting Sonja, and doesn't really play to Lee's strengths.
The story this issue is more substantial than last issue's; there are actual characters with incompatible objectives here, and conflict arising from the characters' pursuit of those objectives. Thomas's scripting continues to delight. He doesn't assume that the reader finished the previous issue just a moment ago, or even read the previous issue at all; he introduces all the elements needed to enjoy the issue in dialogue or caption, while also building on the foundation of older stories, offering a little extra for longtime readers.
He also lays new foundation for upcoming issues. In last issue and this, there is passing mention of a veiled prophet, named (in #241) Natohk. Conan notes that this prophet is raising an army, and expresses intention to travel in that general direction. And in a separate sequence, we see a shadowed southern guardian of Castle Zukala, who is then not seen for the remainder of the issue. If this turns out to be setup for a subsequent issue, Thomas is going to look pretty brilliant; if we don't see the guardian again, it's going to appear irrelevant. At this point, honestly, I don't recall whether this sequence pays off or not.
There was one sequence at which I lost the narrative thread for a moment: When Conan rode away from the castle, then stopped and walked back, I thought for a moment that he was walking to a different castle. That was cleared up before the end of the story, but I still could have benefited from a caption clarifying why Conan was doing what he was doing at that moment.
The inking is rather chunky (odd, I remember liking DeCarlo better on 1980s Legion of Super-Heroes), and the penciling, adequate; neither is served well by the flexographic printing. Nor are the colors; when a color overlaps black, it's too easy (and distracting!) to see the edge of the color in the black shadow. Also, the colorist appears to be trying for some skin tone highlights, but the old 64-color palette just doesn't make the effect convincing. The lettering, not by the same letterer as in #241, is similarly competent (and free from misspellings).
The best thing is that the story is starting to matter now. The characters are taking shape, and starting to take action to get what they want. Readers are getting the genre elements of swordplay with sorcery. And we are getting Conan in confused indignation over Sonja's willing acquiescence to (not to mention defeat in battle at the hands of) her prospective groom, Lord El-Ron. That Conan's confusion and indignation lead to his reinvolvement in the story, after he had gotten away clean, just makes the story that much more interesting.
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Post by foxley on May 28, 2014 0:17:22 GMT -5
Lord El-Ron? Really??
So was Roy making a dig at Scientology in this story?
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Post by berkley on May 28, 2014 0:34:25 GMT -5
My favorite part about issue 240 is that it essentially retcons away the preceding "Conan year one" story arc without actually telling readers that they had been wasting their time. Making that dubious part of the series a bedtime story told by King Conan to his young son and having Conan's queen noticing that it wasn't exactly how he had told her the same stories the first time was as elegant as efficient. Fan of Bronze, I can't tell you how delighted I was when Thomas came back to that title. For some of the following issues, Conan the barbarian was once again my favorite comic. I look forward to your reviews! How does this second Roy Thomas run compare with his first? I've never seen anything from this era, I don't think, or anything at all after no. 115. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 28, 2014 6:06:47 GMT -5
My favorite part about issue 240 is that it essentially retcons away the preceding "Conan year one" story arc without actually telling readers that they had been wasting their time. Making that dubious part of the series a bedtime story told by King Conan to his young son and having Conan's queen noticing that it wasn't exactly how he had told her the same stories the first time was as elegant as efficient. Fan of Bronze, I can't tell you how delighted I was when Thomas came back to that title. For some of the following issues, Conan the barbarian was once again my favorite comic. I look forward to your reviews! How does this second Roy Thomas run compare with his first? I've never seen anything from this era, I don't think, or anything at all after no. 115. Happy as I was to have Roy back and to finally get " real" Conan stories in CtB, I must admit that this second run does not quite measure up to the first one. Some of the story arcs are excellent, especially after Docherty and Villagran start handling the art (giving it a fresher look than it had had in many, many years); however, globally, there are a few irritants in CtB that weren't found in SSoC at the same time (even if Roy wrote both). My main gripe (and that's a strictly personal opinion) is that Roy relied too much on revisiting old characters and storylines. It's fine to have recurring characters, but in the primitive world of the Hyborian age it's unlikely that people would keep running into each other again and again; the very idea of criss-crossing the entire Eurasian landmass again and again stretches credibility. Red Sonja is there half the time; Zula as well; Fan of Bronze just told us how Karanthes and Zukala show up again, as will Yaila from issue #12, the big bats from issue #6 make an appearance, as does Ursla the bear priestess... It's okay to revisit some old concepts, but after a while it feels a bit forced; it makes the world feel much smaller. An excellent decision by Roy was to ignore the jump of many months that then-writer J. M. DeMatteis had decided on to avoid retelling the stories "Hawks over Shem" (SSoC 36) and "Black colossus" (SSoC #2). The original strategy for handling tales already adapted in SSoC had been to readapt them at the proper chronological moment in CtB, but DeMatteis had just skipped them before the book abandoned all pretense of following any kind of continuity. Here, Roy didn't go back all the way before "Hawks" (although some of that story would later be alluded to in flashbacks) but did thankfully bring us back to a time before Black Colossus. (I had been pretty miffed in the early 80s when all the preparatory work done by Roy for the eventual re-adaptation of "Hawks" had just been wasted by his successor). Regarding revisiting Black Colossus in CtB , though... I find it unfortunate that instead of a straight new adaptation of that particular tale, we got some kind of " behind the scenes" type of adaptation -focusing on secondary characters instead of on Conan, Yasmela and Thugra Khotan. Sure, it avoided seeing the same story that we were already familiar with... But at the same time, the main action always remains more interesting than what happens in the background. Furthermore, shoehorning Zula and Sonja in Black Colossus didn't work at all for me, and I would much rather have invested those pages in a more thorough development of Yasmela's character, who here comes across as rather generic (far less interesting than she had been in SSoC #2). To make a long story short, then: as a whole, Roy's second run isn't quite as good as the first one. It was still a breath of fresh air for the mag, however, and some of its story arcs are downright excellent. It was a great feeling to be able to enjoy a Conan comic again after so many years of purgatory! |
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Post by paulie on May 28, 2014 9:24:58 GMT -5
My favorite part about issue 240 is that it essentially retcons away the preceding "Conan year one" story arc without actually telling readers that they had been wasting their time. Making that dubious part of the series a bedtime story told by King Conan to his young son and having Conan's queen noticing that it wasn't exactly how he had told her the same stories the first time was as elegant as efficient. Fan of Bronze, I can't tell you how delighted I was when Thomas came back to that title. For some of the following issues, Conan the barbarian was once again my favorite comic. I look forward to your reviews! Kid Conan? Those issues were terrible. The worst thing is that I'll have to repurchase to complete my Conan run one day. (Sigh). The pratfalls of being a completest. I won't pay anymore than fifty cents each! Promise! |
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Post by paulie on May 28, 2014 9:30:05 GMT -5
JM DeMatteis run on Conan was awful. At least Fleisher's dialogue was decent enough.
I agree about Roy pulling chance meetings out of his hat but damn if the book didn't need some continuity at this point.
The Owsley run was terrific but he left with what... 212? It just amazes me that the book was so badly mishandled for such long stretches.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 28, 2014 12:22:12 GMT -5
It was very sad indeed, Paulie, and compounded by the fact these awful books often sold quite well.
As you say, the Owsley years were another high point of the run. First, after years of DeMatteis-Jones-Fleisher generic S&S with flying castles, ninjas and Cimmerian Olympics, we were finally treated to a Hyborian world that looked like the Hyborian world. Second, we were finally treated to a continuing story where Conan went somewhere instead of just wandering from one damsel in distress to the other. Third, we were finally treated to a supporting cast we could root for (because let's face it: we know Conan's not gonna die whatever happens). Fourth, there were hints of resuming the telling of Conan's career in chronological order, with the "rebel prince of Koth" bit that would have led to the Kozak era. (Owsley left right before the Kozak part, and that was promptly abandoned again until Roy took over many years later).
During Roy's second run, I really enjoyed how he had Conan go back to Cimmeria to show it as it was supposed to be: a wild and cold country. Jones and Fleisher had described it as a standard fantasy land, with fat merchants, skinny farmers, Prince Valiant medieval villages, dill pickle dragons, swampy jungles and the like, without ever realizing (apparently) that Conan was now home and that he could no longer be written as "the barbarian among weaker civilized folks". Which he was anyway. The resolution of the Ursla subplot from issue 145 was also very well handled by Roy;it was an emotional high point of the series. (Issue 145 had been written by Alan Zelenetz, one of the few Marvel writers who could do the character justice).
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Post by paulie on May 28, 2014 12:44:16 GMT -5
It's funny how disjointed every thing got after Roy left (whom I met this weekend).
I've read 1-115 probably a dozen times and it flows and each book is firmly lodged in my memory.
But 116 - 172, when Owsley takes over, coupled by the disjointed way that SSOC was presented, it's hard to tell what was going on (when, where, and how)in Conan's life. Granted, Roy made it easy but as someone who doesn't have the REH chronology permanently ingrained in his thought matrix I really lost track of what was going on in Conan's life; 'What's going on?' perhaps being the main driver behind serial stories.
I seem to recall an issue of SSOC where Conan goes to Cimmeria and fights some sort of clan that had taken over the family farm. It didn't seem to work. The issue would have been in the 120s somewhere.
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Post by paulie on May 28, 2014 12:50:19 GMT -5
Oh, as someone who has read Conan comics for 25 years his biography as I know it looks like this so you can see where I have my holes.
13 or 14 years old - Frost Giant's Daughter.
14 or 15 years old - Ends up in Hyperboria fighting in various regional skirmishes.
15 - 18 - Travels south and thieves for 2 or 3 years. Tower of the Elephant
18- At maturity is able to fight in the Turan conflict for about a year or two.
19-21 - Wanders
21 - Meets Belit
21- 25 Pirates with Belit Queen of the Black Coast
And then after 25 it gets a little foggy for me. I know he does two long stretches as a pirate and then a Kozak.
I know around 35 or 40 he becomes King of Aquilona. The age needs to slide back because his athletic feats are not those of a forty something.
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